Related Tags:

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — A former northern New Jersey dentist who admitted dispensing a popular painkilling drug in exchange for sexual favors has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Succasunna dentist Ronald Jupiter must serve at least nine months of the sentence imposed Friday before he becomes eligible for parole, and he also agreed to surrender his dentistry license. However, his lawyer says Jupiter plans to seek entry into the state’s intensive supervision program, which could allow him to go free in roughly three or four months if he successfully completes the program.

Morris County prosecutors say Jupiter wrote prescriptions for Percocet for undercover officers who came to his office on multiple occasions. Jupiter never conducted a medical exam or checked for symptoms before prescribing the drug.

Authorities had said the 62-year-old Jupiter solicited the female undercover officers for sex. He was arrested at a hotel in Roxbury after allegedly setting up a liaison with the officers.

Jupiter had pleaded guilty in June to distributing a controlled dangerous substance. He blamed his actions on mental illness and a sex addiction, for which he has been undergoing treatment.

Authorities say the undercover investigation that led to Jupiter’s arrest was started due to “the level of prescriptions coming out of his office.” They said his actions were “more deplorable than a street-level” drug dealer because Jupiter had the medical training to realize he was dispensing highly-addictive narcotics.